8-year-old child among injured after Israeli forces suppress march in Kafr Qaddum

Aug. 25, 2017 8:09 P.M. (Updated: Aug. 26, 2017 4:16 P.M.)

QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces injured 11 Palestinians, including an eight-year-old child, with rubber-coated steel bullets on Friday, while suppressing Kafr Qaddum village’s weekly march in the occupied West Bank district of Qalqiliya.

Spokesperson for the village’s popular resistance committee Murad Shteiwi said that Israeli forces had “attacked” the march, shooting live ammunition and rubber bullets at the protesters.

An eight-year-old child, identified as Khalifeh Riyad Shteiwi, was injured with a rubber bullet, Shteiwi said, along with 10 other Palestinian “youths.”

Shteiwi added that clashes had erupted in the village after Israeli forces raided the area.

According to Shteiwi, Israeli forces had also set up a checkpoint at the entrance of the village since early Friday, where they searched and took pictures of Palestinian vehicles and ID cards.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an she would look into reports.

Residents of Kafr Qaddum began staging weekly protests in 2011 against Israeli land confiscations, as well as the closure of the village's southern road by Israeli forces.

The road, which has been closed for 14 years, is the main route to the nearby city of Nablus, the nearest economic center.

The Israeli army blocked off the road after expanding the illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim in 2003, forcing village residents to take a bypass road in order to travel to Nablus, which has extended the travel time to Nablus from 15 minutes to 40 minutes, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been detained during the demonstrations since their start in 2011, and at least one protester was killed, while dozens have been injured by live fire, including 12 children, Shteiwi told Ma'an during a similar protest last year.